Cronulla Sharks wary of discount doping bans

Brad Walter

Players involved in the supplement program at Cronulla in 2011 are wary of accepting bans of six months or less as they maintain they never knowingly took any prohibited substances.

The players, who include 10 current NRL players but just four who are still playing at the Sharks, are also believed to be concerned they may have to provide evidence that would enable the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority to charge other people in return for the heavily discounted suspensions, which would begin in the off-season.

Under the World Anti-Doping Agency’s rules, athletes are usually only entitled to a 75 per cent reduction of the standard two-year ban for illegal drug use if they make a full admission and provide substantial assistance that leads to someone else being charged.

The reduced bans are expected to be offered to up to 17 members of Cronulla’s 2011 squad at a meeting with NRL officials on Wednesday. However, a source said the offer wasn’t any better than one they had rejected before the start of last season, which also included a guaranteed payment of their contracts.

The players, who are yet to be advised of the meeting, also say they would be reluctant to admit to using a banned substance after maintaining for 18 months that they never knowingly did so.

ASADA chief executive Ben McDevitt is believed to be keen to have the Sharks case finalised before the end of the season in three weeks.

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If players accept six-month bans beginning on September 8, they would miss just the first month of the 2015 season – although they would not be able to train with their team or have any official involvement with the club. Fairfax Media has been told some players may be offered lesser bans of as little as a month or three months.

It is believed the offer will only apply to those who played for Cronulla between rounds two and five of the 2011 season and with hooker John Morris retiring, skipper Paul Gallen, fellow back-rowers Wade Graham and Anthony Tupou and fullback Nathan Gardner are the only players still at the club.

Former Sharks players at other clubs are expected to be offered similar deals, including Newcastle forwards Jeremy Smith and Kade Snowden, Gold Coast’s Albert Kelly and Luke Douglas, Warriors forward Jayson Bukuya and North Queensland three-quarter Matthew Wright.

There are also several players who have moved to Super League to continue their careers, including Catalans centre Ben Pomeroy, Leeds hooker Paul Aiton and prop Josh Cordoba, who recently signed with London Broncos.

The players were advised of a meeting last week but it was cancelled. Graham said Cronulla players only knew what they had read in Monday’s Sydney Morning Herald.and were waiting to hear from ASADA or the NRL.

"We've read it all before, we've seen it all before, we've been through it for two years now so I have sort of had the attitude now of what will be will be," Graham told Channel Nine. "There is no use looking over your shoulder or looking into things to much because we have been doing it for two years and still we have nothing that is clear and certain."

Sharks chief executive Steve Noyce said he hoped the end was near but did not want to add to any speculation about what may happen at the meeting.

"We will see what happens, part of this whole problem is reading about it or hearing it on the news," Noyce said. "It has clearly been a case at times where there hasn't been enough respect shown to the players involved in this process or the people who love them, and that is important. Hopefully if any meetings are held this week then that is a process that will help bring this thing to fruition."

Former Cronulla and Newcastle star Matthew Johns said on his Triple M breakfast program on Monday that a six-month ban to begin in the off-season would be hard for any player to refuse. "If you are a Sharks player, given everything you have gone through, not only is it bringing some finality to this mess but I think all in all that is not a bad result," Johns said.